New Poll: 42% of Americans Don't Know We're Still at War in Afghanistan

image
Published: 30 Jul, 2018
1 min read

Rasmussen Reports released the results of a new survey Monday that found 42% of respondents either incorrectly said we are not still at war in Afghanistan or said they were not sure.

Overall, 58% of respondents said we are still at war in Afghanistan. However, 21% said they thought the Afghanistan war was not still going on, and an equal amount said they were not sure.

Breaking it down by party: 64% of Republicans, 52% of Democrats, and 58% of voters not affiliated with either party know we are still at war in Afghanistan.

Seventeen years later, the war gets no attention in the 24-hour news cycle, and is generally out of the nation's collective consciousness, so are these numbers really surprising?

Ensuring the American public remains informed is the job of the media, yet when the entire news cycle is devoted to three stories at most or 90 percent is about the president -- the media completely fails at its purpose. Everything else falls by the wayside and the people are left in ignorance.

Photo Credit: ChameleonsEye / shutterstock.com

You Might Also Like

Ballrooms, Ballots, and a Three-Way Fight for New York
Ballrooms, Ballots, and a Three-Way Fight for New York
The latest Independent Voter Podcast episode takes listeners through the messy intersections of politics, reform, and public perception. Chad and Cara open with the irony of partisan outrage over trivial issues like a White House ballroom while overlooking the deeper dysfunctions in our democracy. From California to Maine, they unpack how the very words on a ballot can tilt entire elections and how both major parties manipulate language and process to maintain power....
30 Oct, 2025
-
1 min read
California Prop 50 gets an F
Princeton Gerrymandering Project Gives California Prop 50 an 'F'
The special election for California Prop 50 wraps up November 4 and recent polling shows the odds strongly favor its passage. The measure suspends the state’s independent congressional map for a legislative gerrymander that Princeton grades as one of the worst in the nation....
30 Oct, 2025
-
3 min read
bucking party on gerrymandering
5 Politicians Bucking Their Party on Gerrymandering
Across the country, both parties are weighing whether to redraw congressional maps ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. Texas, California, Missouri, North Carolina, Utah, Indiana, Colorado, Illinois, and Virginia are all in various stages of the action. Here are five politicians who have declined to support redistricting efforts promoted by their own parties....
31 Oct, 2025
-
4 min read